gs it may be said that _noblesse oblige_.

The men of the army had thus found their commander all that they could
wish, and his increasing personal popularity was shown by the greater
frequency with which they now spoke of him as "Marse Robert," "Old
Uncle Robert," and by other familiar titles. This tendency in troops
is always an indication of personal regard; these nicknames had been
already showered upon Jackson, and General Lee was having his turn.
The troops regarded him now more as their fellow-soldier than
formerly, having found that his dignity was not coldness, and that he
would, under no temptation, indulge his personal convenience, or fare
better than themselves. It was said--we know not with what truth--that
the habit of Northern generals in the war was to look assiduously to
their individual comfort in selecting their quarters, and to take
pleasure in surrounding themselves with glittering staff-officers,
body-guards, and other indications of their rank, and the
consideration which they expected. In these particulars Lee differed
extremely from his opponents, and there were no evidences whatever,
at his headquarters, that he was the commander-in-chief, or even an
officer of high rank. He uniformly lived in a tent, in spite of
the urgent invitations of citizens to use their houses for his
headquarters; and this refusal was the result both of an indisposition
to expose these gentlemen to annoyance from the enemy when he himself
retired, and of a rooted objection to fare better than his troops.
They had tents only, often indeed were without even that much
covering, and it was repugnant to Lee's feelings to sleep under a good
roof when the troops were so much exposed. His headquarters tent,
at this time (December, 1862), as before and afterward, was what is
called a "house-tent," not differing in any particular from those used
by the private soldiers of the army in winter-quarters. It was pitched
in an opening in the wood near the narrow road leading to Hamilton's
Crossing, with the tents of the officers of the staff grouped near;
and, with the exception of an orderly, who always waited to summon
couriers to carry dispatches, there was nothing in the shape of a
body-guard visible, or any indication that the unpretending group of
tents was the army headquarters.

Within, no article of luxury was to be seen. A few plain and
indispensable objects were all which the tent contained. The covering
of the commander-i